Posts Tagged ‘Paperback’

Customer relationship marketing is powerful in theory, but troubled in practice. We need to take time to figure out how and why we are undermining our own best efforts.

Perhaps we’re overlooking the fundamental elements of a good customer relationship program. With the means to connect with customers easily, maybe we’re rushing to cash in on the potential rewards, while forgetting the essentials of all relationships: intimacy and trust.

Close examination reveals that relationships between companies and consumers are suffering. U.S. satisfaction rates are at an all-time low. Complaints, boycotts and growing unhappiness with big corporations are strong indicators that most CRM isn’t working.

Ironically, the very steps marketers are taking to build relationships with customers are often responsible for destroying these connections. Companies may delight in learning more about their customers and providing services to please them, but customers are fed up. They’re tired of irrelevant survey questions, overwhelming product choices, features they’ll never use in phone plans and cars, and rebate-driven buyer reward programs.

The New Frontier: Mining the Internet

With the proliferation of online stores that complement traditional outlets, companies now have a tremendous source of information about consumers’ preferences. Because a traditional store may not always have a product on its shelves, purchase results are not always a good measurement of desires. Online stores can track consumer demand patterns more precisely, as they offer extensive ranges of products to national and global customers.

The web is more than a sales channel; it is a powerful means of collecting data in real time. The Internet is truly the new frontier in connecting with the customer, offering a huge opportunity for companies to improve customer relationships.

The New Social Marketing: Buzz and Word of Mouth

Where does marketing enter the mix? Some experts claim the old days of “push” marketing are over, where a company shoved a one-way message to customers via print or TV. Corporations are asking themselves just how much return on investment there really is from a 30-second Super Bowl commercial.

Consumers are turning away from media and, instead, tuning into each other. Engagement and word of mouth marketing are the buzzwords of this new era. Customers are doing their market research online and listening to each other. Unfortunately, many marketers continue to look at engagement in a one-sided way.

Corporate blogs have become an excellent resource for CEOs and others to connect with customers in a personal manner. In spite of the possible pitfalls in opening two-way communication between the public and employees, there is much to be gained by being personable, accessible, authentic and transparent.

Customers are already communicating with each other online about products and experiences with your company. If you can join the conversation in a real way, in real time, you’ll have an advantage over those who remain silent and inaccessible behind corporate doors.

Now there is finally a way to discover what customers want, and a way to connect with them authentically. But there are risks involved in being honest and transparent. Will you and your company take the risk?

If the idea of starting a social media marketing campaign overwhelms you, the author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day will introduce you to the basics, demonstrate how to manage details and describe how you can track results.  Case studies, step-by-step guides, checklists, quizzes and hands-on tutorials will help you execute a social media marketing campaign in just one hour a day.  In addition, learn how to integrate social media metrics with traditional media measure (more…)

In the online world, there are tons of different ways that you can go about promoting your own business. It’s very important that you understand Internet marketing, or your online business will never make it. That is because people have to know that you are selling something before they can buy from you. There are tons of different online stores out there that are more than likely selling the same thing that you are selling. So what is the one thing that is going to make them choose your store over a different store? That is how well you market your online business. You have to get the name of your business out there, and you have to get it out there as much as you can. The more you can do that, the better chance you have of running a successful business.

The first and best way to get your name out there is to get it notice by Search Engine sites like Yahoo! or Google. These are sites that even have programs where you can add your business to different websites that are related to your product. This is called Google AdWords. They will help you place online ads all over the Internet. This is a great way to start out when trying to get your business noticed. Although this is a great way to start out, it’s not going to be the only thing that you need to do. After you get your online business noticed, you need to find other ways to market it. One great way is to visit online forums and have your business name and link in your posts. This can be easy to do by attaching it to the bottom of every post. However, for this to work, whatever site you join has to be related to what you are selling.

The next thing you need to do is look around at a whole bunch of social marketing sites. These are some of the biggest sites on the Internet to date. Some of these sites include places like MySpace, Yuwie, and of course myLot. These are places where you are going to want to place ads if you can. Talk to these sites about how you would go about getting ads placed on their site. Millions of people use these sites every day, and because of that, they are the prime area to place an ad. You will notice that your site’s hit counter is going to go through the roof after placing ads at these places.

Last, but not least, you need to keep up with what the stats are doing on your webpage. Make sure that you are getting quality leads to your site. This can be done by checking around and getting stat counters for your webpage. When you are talking about stat counters, you are talking about more than just Hit counters. Those are helpful, but you are going to need counters that are going to see how many people are coming to your site, how long they are staying, if they are buying anything, and what links they are clicking on.

The Ultimate Guide To Social Media Marketing The Social Media Bible will show you how to build or transform your business into a social media—enabled enterprise where customers, employees, and prospects connect, collaborate, and champion your products, your services, and your way of doing business. Using the systematic approach presented in this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn how to: Increase your company and brand value by engaging people i (more…)